I - SIXTY-NINTH ANNUAL REPORT of the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York June 13, 1938 YPrinted by The Moore Printing Company, Inc. Newburgh, N. Y. CI Annual Report, June 13, 1938 3 __ __ Address of Brigadier General Jay L. Benedict to the Graduating Class and Introduction of the Secretary of War, the Honorable Harry Woodring, June 14, 1938. Mr. Secretary, Members of the Class of 1938, Ladies and Gentlemen:- HE United States Military Academy is indeed honored to wel- come here today so many of its friends to assist in sending forth from its portals the Class of 1938. To you, the Members of the graduating class, we express our sincere congratulations upon completion of the course. The mark which your conduct, your spirit and your loyalty has left upon West Point and upon the Corps is, I hope, as deep a satisfaction to you as it is to us. It bespeaks for you that full measure of success which I heartily wish each of you in your future careers. We are most fortunate in having with us today a young man, deeply interested in the Military Academy and of whose service to the country he and we may well be proud. He was born and raised in the State of Kansas. During the World War he left his business to enter the Army. After the War he returned to his native State, resuming his career as a business and civic leader. He became Governor of Kansas in 1931. Since April, 1933 he has served suc- cessively as Assistant Secretary of War and as Secretary of War. We have had many other able men at the head of the War De- partment and of the Army, but none who has made a greater con- tribution to the development of a sound and practical national de- fense, and to the efficiency and well-being of our military forces. Looking upon his cabinet post as an opportunity to contribute to our national welfare and security, possessing to a marked degree sterling qualities of devotion to duty, well-balanced judgment and strength of character; and endowed with a keen, considerate and sympathetic understanding of human nature, he has achieved much and has won the respect and esteem of the Army and of the nation. You who are graduating today are indeed fortunate to start your military careers under such a leader. We are deeply grateful to him for coming to us today. It is a privilege and a pleasure to present the Honorable Harry Hines Woodring, the Secretary of War. 0s 3t 0 0O *<s 5t 0 0 2 03 O 0 0 3s*C) 8) 0 O00 a S ;s" 5 c '%.o *t " 1· Q0 o os ^LfiO Q rS t a t3 Annual Report, June 13, 1938 5 Address of the Honorable Harry H. Woodring, Secretary of War at the GraduatingExercises of the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, June 14, 1938. Gentlemen of West Point: STATURE and art have combined to give this institution a unique and a sublime setting. Throughout the majestic beauty which is everywhere present there is a dominant note, but it is a note of the austere, not of the benign. Here is no Alma Mater, no "Benign Mother" as of Princeton or of Williams; rather is West Point, as Horace has it, the "Nurse of Lions". Gothic walls with crenelated towers seem to grow out of the cliff's rugged battle- ments. Below lies the river's magnificent panorama. Above towers the Chapel, that spiritual fortress-dominant as the spirit should be-seeming to repeat that text which is above the chancel in the old Chapel "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people". Cut into the cliff's eternal rock are names of battles in which graduates of the Academy have carried our country's colors to victory-colors and flags which now hang in majestic glory on the Institution's walls. Portraits and monu- ments perpetuate the memory of your illustrious predecessors. It is difficult to overestimate the psychic effect of these classic structures and memorials. In after years, should you be stressed by temptation or mayhap by physical fear, you will envision West Point, standing steadfast throughout the years, stern, austere but serenely confident of her sons. Then surely you will hearken un- to duty, Wordsworth's "Stern daughter of the Voice of God", and stand "Loyal to the royal in yourself." The spirit and tradition of this place are in every way worthy of its noble setting. "Duty, Honor, Country"-The ideal em- bodied in this motto of the Academy has been the quickening im- pulse through the years of more than a century. To that ideal your predecessors, those ancestors of the spirit, have, with the rarest of exceptions, been remarkably steadfast. They have been honorable gentlemen, gentlemen unafraid, who did their full duty with patriotic devotion. Youth nurtured in such a scene as West Point, daily drinking of the institution's spirit, rapt in the spell of honored tradition, is in a sensitive state of receptivity. In that receptive state you have readily assimilated accepted theories and facts. Scholastic as well as military. To that extent you have learned to think and act 6 Annual Report, June 13, 1938 alike, to hold largely the same views on academic and military subjects. Homogeneity is an especial virtue in a body of military men. It is true that at West Point there is less of the inductive, less of the seminar, less of the dialectic than in the average univer- sity. Nevertheless, the scholastic standing of West Point and its graduates compares favorably with that of any institution in the world. It will probably surprise many people, perhaps even some cadets, to learn that the graduates of West Point have not per- fected themselves in Military Science while at the Academy. They have been well-grounded in the fundamentals, but their education in the art of war will continue throughout their service. Exper- ience, supplemented by study, individually and in classes at Service Schools, will be needed to round out the professional edu- cation of the Cadets, to complete their training. But the continuance of your professional studies and the ad- vancement of your military knowledge are not sufficient to make you a good officer. You should develop and retain a keen interest in world affairs, in the current history of this sometimes confused but always interesting planet. You should continue to pursue your excursions into the history of government, art and literature and continually broaden your cultural background. As army officers you will lead no isolated, cloistered existence. Each army post is definitely a part of the local community and the army is the people's army. No army officer serves his country well if he confines his interest, his friends and his associations within the limits of a military reservation. In each community, you will become acquainted with political, business and social leaders whose views are frequently accepted and repeated as gospel by themselves and by their associates. These opinions are entitled to consideration but should not be accepted by you without anal- ysis. Think for yourself in economic, political and social matters. One of the finest things about West Point is its democracy. Each cadet starts from scratch. -No matter who his father was or what he or his family has done heretofore, each cadet is appraised by his fellow cadets and by his officers on his performance after he, comes through the sally-port. Let me assure you that you will again start from scratch when you report for your first duty. Of course, .you will have had better preliminary training than those who have not had the advantage of West Point. Otherwise the continued existence of this institution would not be justified, for West Point is maintained for the army, not the army for West Point. St. Paul said "Forgetting the things that are behind, I press toward the mark". Remember, of course, your training, your worthy traditions, and your loyalty to the school, but forget your past successes-and failures, too-except to profit by them. You Annual Report, June 13, 1938 7 will be judged in the army solely on your performance after you become officers, and you will not be favored in any way merely because you are graduates. Any belief to the contrary in any quarter is erroneous. As fair-minded men, imbued with the spirit of West Point, you would not have it otherwise. Do not depend upon the fickle Goddess, whether you hail her as Fortune, Luck, Chance or Accident. She may smile upon you once, or, perhaps, twice, but continued success, in the army and out, comes not through her, but through character, intelligence, hard work and aspiration. I know of no other profession in which superiors are more in- terested in the success of subordinates than in the army. As com- missioned officers you will have much less supervision than you had as cadets. Nevertheless, your work will be constantly under observation. From the moment you report for duty, you will begin to build a service reputation. If that reputation from the begin- ning is one of loyal, conscientious, devotion to duty, of painstaking effort and unflagging industry, you will go far. If you fail to apply yourself diligently, if you avoid opportunities to advance your knowledge, and if you shirk your duties or are satisfied with an indifferent performance there is no place for you in the Army.